Since the World Heritage Convention has been adopted in 1972, the growing interest of each country has brought to the nature of heritage included in the World Heritage List and the imbalance between regions. According to a study conducted by the International Conference on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) from 1987 to 1993, 'elitist' buildings such as historical sites, religious monuments and Christian relics in Europe are excessively listed on the World Heritage List, while the existing cultural heritage, especially those related to 'traditional culture', are rarely listed. Biased concentration by country and region is also a serious problem. Top five countries (Italy, Spain, Germany, France, and China) account for 20% of total heritage, and four of them are European countries.
In response, in 1994, the World Heritage Committee published an international strategy for the preparation of credible, representative and balanced World Heritage Lists. The goal of the international strategy was to broadly recognize the value of heritages that contain the coexistence of nature and humans, harmony and exchange between different civilizations, and human creativity beyond the existing limited concept of heritage. Specifically, it invited countries that had not yet joined the Convention, particularly in Africa and Asia, to join the Convention, and supported the preparation process to apply for tentative list of world heritage of countries that did not yet have the World Heritage.